Rowland takes the county sheriff’s race

Bucky Roland accepts a handshake of congratulations from one of his opponants Terry Chandler Thursday night as results in the Sheriff's race pointed to a win for Roland. At right, their wives, Gina Chandler, left, and Kerrie Rowland share a hug. (Staff photo by Susan W. Thurman)

Bucky Rowland, a 39-year-old former sheriff’s department employee and small business owner, has been elected as Maury County’s new sheriff, according to complete but unofficial results. Rowland will replace outgoing Sheriff Enoch George, who served Maury County for 20 years

Rowland finished the race with 4,942 votes — 29.5 percent of the total vote. Closely following was current sheriff’s department Capt. Jimmy Tennyson with 4,526 votes, roughly 27 percent of the ballots cast. Robin Howell came in third with 3,614 votes, followed by Terry Chandler with 2,500 and Luis Eastman Sweeney with 1,141.

Rowland stood on a bench at Kathy’s Restaurant in Columbia to address his constituents and supporters Thursday, thanking them for their continued support of his campaign.

Rowland then embraced his wife Kerrie before proceeding to shake hands with his supporters.

The win left Rowland “humbled” and “speechless,” he said. When he steps into his new office, Rowland said his focus will be on serving the people of Maury County.

“I’m excited about Maury County moving forward,” he said. “There was a lot of change voted on tonight. I ask Maury County to be with me. My door is always open, and my phone is always on.”

The sheriff’s race was one of the more hotly contested campaigns for the county. Tennyson faced accusations of breaking state laws by not leaving his post in the department to run for sheriff after Rowland had to obtain a leave of absence. However, Tennyson’s position did not fall under the category of “civil service” and therefore Tennessee law allowed him to remain employed with the sheriff’s office.

Others alleged Tennyson was violating state law when he carried his firearm or wore his uniform during the campaign, but state officials maintained that is legal as long as Tennyson had permission from the sheriff. George had thrown his support behind Tennyson’s campaign.

Sweeney also made allegations against Tennyson, filing an official complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel claiming Tennyson was being protected by officials within the sheriff’s department and illegally campaigning while on duty and in uniform. Sweeney said the complaint was nothing against Tennyson “personally” but more because Sweeney himself was charged with campaigning while on duty as a state trooper in 2009, a charge that was later dismissed.

Born and raised in Santa Fe, George has served as Maury County’s sheriff since 1994 and will serve his last day as sheriff on Sept. 1.

Rules for posting comments

Comments posted below are from readers. In no way do they represent the view of Stephens Media LLC or this newspaper. This is a public forum.

Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content but the newspaper is under no obligation to do so. Comment posters are solely responsible under the Communications Decency Act for comments posted on this Web site. Stephens Media LLC is not liable for messages from third parties.

IP and email addresses of persons who post are not treated as confidential records and will be disclosed in response to valid legal process.

Do not post:

Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.

Obscene, explicit, or racist language.

Copyrighted materials of any sort without the express permission of the copyright holder.

Personal attacks, insults or threats.

The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.

Comments unrelated to the story.

If you believe that a commenter has not followed these guidelines, please click the FLAG icon below the comment.